Hinault would be my choice also. No one will ever hold a candle to The Cannibal. He was the best, we shall never see the likes of him again. Cycling has changed, a lot of riders won't make a move unless it benefits them financially. Merckx was a strange person, he changed personalities when he mounted a bike. He rode to win. He was (is) very complex. I read a book about him once, Eddy Merckx by Rik Vanwalleghen. A good read. Armstrong as good as he is, focuses on TDF. Merckx won them all, he was in a class all by himself....

He rode with a dogged determination unmatched by anyone but the Cannibal himself. Indurain's name would certainly come up in conversation but, like Armstrong, he geared his entire season around Le Tour to the exclusion of the Classics. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever see another rider who is capable of winning Classics and the Tour in the same season: Everyone's a specialist these days.

easy vote here, not for Hinault though...

pelotonMay 29, 2001 3:48 PM

John Tomac. He has titles in BMX, mountain bike- XC, DS, and DH, and has won on the road too. He has won World Cups in cross country and downhill, won the national criterium championships, and even raced in the Giro, all this after being a BMX star for a few years. As far as the best cyclist is concerned, I don't think anyone else can come close. He has won races on anything with two wheels and pedals. No one will probably ever match his versatility as a cyclist ever again. Nice guy too, met him once at a race.

As far as road only though, Hinault would have to get my vote. So, Hinault as a roadie, and Tomac as a cyclist.

re: Who is the best post-Merckx cyclist?

Tom CMay 29, 2001 3:57 PM

Without question Hinault. Tours, Giros, Vueltas, World Champion, Paris-Roubaix,GiroDiLombardia,5 Grand-Prix de Nations Etc. The list as they say goes on only surpassed in breadth by Merckx.

with a name like Darragh, or McMahon for that matter? What a work ethic. I love watching the old footage of Kelly, especially the really mucky Paris-Roubaix with Kelly, Lemond, and the rest duking it out, covered in mud, spit, and boogers. I'd love to have a pint of Guinness with Kelly.

hoist a pint for me!

BreckMay 30, 2001 8:21 AM

had to give it up as met my lifetime quota fter 40(1958-1998) years of the cereal brews. will take-o-pint(british 20 oz) of the St. James Gate Dublin, Ireland extra stout brew with 32 degrees of bitterness for the lad from Carrick-on-Suir. cellar temp with an inch-o-head, pleeze :)

my fav-o-rite kelly tape is the fcv(now wcp)"1987 tour of ireland nissan classic". also have the "the Sean Kelly Story, an irish cycling legend" 1996 special box set.

cheers Mikey

Don't think you can compare cyclists from different eras

LargoMay 29, 2001 7:22 PM

To say who was the best, you would have to have them race each other, which is, of course, impossible.
I don't think that given todays sheer number of talented cyclists in the pro peloton, that you could have one cyclist that domintated in the tours and the classics the way a Merckx did.
Not to say he was not a remarkable athlete, he certainly was, but did he have the same numbers of super talented rivals and teams opposing him?
Given todays focus on salaries and results, i think it would be impossible for a cyclist to dominate in all the different races, to much great competition. At best, you would have a cyclist who was mediocre in all the races.
Just my take on it.

Shows what a bunch of chauvanists we are. Longo is, what, 42 or 43? She's been kicking @$$ on a regular basis for as long as I can remember. Good choice.

re: Who is the best post-Merckx cyclist?

bartaliMay 30, 2001 6:47 AM

The answer is too easy: Hinault.

He was the last of a dying breed. The best cyclists were the ones who were complete (Merckx, Coppi, Hinault, Anquetil, Bartali, Bobet). Unfortunately there are no more complete cyclists.

re: Who is the best post-Merckx cyclist?

Len JMay 30, 2001 7:23 AM

This is always an interesting question, unfortunatly, answers rarely take into accout the Relative strength of the competition. What made Merckx so dominent was his strength relative to the competition of his day. I think most would agree that the overall fitness of the average rider on the pelaton today is far better than the average rider in Merckx day,and there are more elite level riders today than in Merckx's day. I think Merckx would have been a dominant rider in any time period, but I also suspect that were he riding today, he would not win anywhere as much as he won in his day, there is just too much competition. I think that there are some athletes that are just ahead of thier time (i.e. Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Wilt Chaberlain etc.). Put most of them in a future time frame where the relative strength of the field has improved and they (while still being great) would probably not be as dominent. A Better way to look at this might be to ask: Which of the Riders after Merckx, could dominate in Merckx's era? You might get a different answer.

Just my 2 cents.

Wilt the Stilt

BreckMay 30, 2001 8:01 AM

Me and my dad saw Wilt playing(Philly 76'ers?) an exhibition game aginst the Harlem Globe Trotters in Lubbock, Texas back around 1957. Awesome! As you may remember later in the 60's(?) Wilt was gonna fight Cassius Clay(now Mohmmed Ali) but it never occured.

cheers

speling(!)!

BreckMay 30, 2001 8:08 AM

sorree, this old typo keyboard is dropping letters. it's an original cobbled together from an old vacuum tubed analog computer bck in my mainframe(fortran,cobol,rpg,bal) daze and equivlent to non-indexed dt's, etc. the missus promises me a new(er) one soon :)

cheers

Wilt the Stilt

Len JMay 30, 2001 8:41 AM

I grew up in Philly, watched Wilt (at 7'0") in Highschool and then with the warriors. He was so far ahead as an athlete, that it would be equivilant to Shaq being able to move like Kobe.

Chamberlain played for the Globetrotters

MeDotOrgMay 30, 2001 11:39 AM

...signed a huge contract in '58, signed with Philly in '59. Chamberlain was also a great Volleyball player, toured with his own team.

When I was in college, I saw him shooting a commercial at Pauley Pavilion (UCLA). He and Jo Jo White (Celtics) were shooting free throws from half-court, Chamberlain making about 40%, underhanded of course...

I agree with other posters about the competition getting tougher, which makes the accomplishments of a Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan (or a Lance Armstrong, for that matter) that much more remarkable. It IS tough to compare eras, but I think Eddie Mercx would be a force to be reckoned with no matter WHEN he rode...

thanks

BreckMay 30, 2001 12:29 PM

Then it was the Globetrotters' in Lubbock my dad and me saw him on & got a bit confused knowing he also played for the Philly 76'ers. I remember him really cutting up with the ref's in the game. They did this gag too pretending to throw a bucket of water on the crowd but only being paper confetti. This was at the Texas Tech basketball court so don't really recall the other team but maybe the Tech college team. this was between 1956 & 1958.

I saw Lew Al Cindor(sp) UCLA about 1967/8-9? or so on campus during a protest rally. Tall guy back then!